Fish-tongs.



R. WIESENFELD. FISH TONGS. APPLICATION'FILED AUG. 26, 191 3.

1,095,054. Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFEioE.

ROBERT WIESENFELD, F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

FISH-TONGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

Application led August 26, 1913. Serial No.. 786,748.

' ing is a specification.

This invention relates to an` instrument operating upon the principle of a pair of tongs designed for use in gripping and holdinga fish when it is desired to handle the saine.

The object of the inventionis to provide an instrument of this kind which will be vconvenient to use, and effective for the purposes for which it is intended.

To these ends, the invention consists in a pair of tongs connected together by a suitable fulcrum and formed at one end with hand holds for prehension, and at the other end carrying a plurality of fingers extending for a part of their length in the plane of the tong members and oppositely curved and preferably serrated for gripping; the fulcrum being suitably offset from one tong in order to bring the two members on opposite sides, so that the tongs are brought into improved gripping relation when open, and when completely closed, the two tongs will lie .on opposite sides of an intermediate longitudinal plane and the oppositely curved ends of the gripping fingers will diverge and leave between them a tapering space that may be used to confine and hold down a fish lying on a surface.

The invention will be fully understood upon reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a perspective view illustrating the multiple finger ends in gripping relation; Fig. Q is a side view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a side view showing the tongs completely closed.

1 and represent the tong members which are connected by a fulcrum 3 supported from the member l, but sufficiently offset therefrom to bring the twomembers on opposite sides of an intermediate longitudinal pl ane as shown in Fig.3, when the tongs are completely closed, and also to cause the tongs to intersect at a point such as X Well beyond the fulcrum when in the act of gripping a fish between the tongs and therebyl improving thegripping eHect by delaying the parallelism of 'the tongs as they close together. The outer ends of the tongs are curvedas at y, which 1s usual, but the relation of the fulcrum to the tongs combined yWlth the feature of curving the outer ends,

produces a novel and advantageous effect, in that 1t conserves the oval shape of the gripping space, thereby improving the gripping effect without injury to the fish. A further important advantage arising from the location of the fulcrum and the opposite curving of the ends of the tongs, is the provisionA of a gripping space between the diverging ends when the tongs are completely closed, as suggested in Fig. 3, so that the instrument can be used for holding'down a fish upon a surface While the hook is removed, when it may be fo-und more convenient to control the fish in this way.l

As shown in Fig. l, the gripping ends of the tongs are )i'eferably made up of a plurality of fingers l, 2, as is usual in grip- .ping tongs, but which is particularly advantageous in connection with the curvature and the particular location of the fulcrum, in that it allows the intermeshing of the ends of the tongs while-'providing the necessarylateral dimension of the gripping ends to hold the fish normal to the direction of gripping pressure.

y I claim 'f l 1. Fish tongscomprising a pair of members constructed at one end fo-r prehension, and each provided at its opposite end with a plurality of gripping fingers, the fingers on one member being alternated in position wit-hand adapted to enter between fingers on the other member; said fingers being extended in the lineof the members for a portion of their length and terminating in curved ends; and said members having a connecting fulcrum. carried by oneV member and offset therefrom to cause the gripping plurality of gripping fingers; the fingers on one member being' alternated in position with and adapted to enter between fingers on the other member; ysaid fingers being eX- tended in the line of the members fora portion of their length and terminating in curved ends; said members having a connecting fulcrum carried by one member and offset therefrom toward the other member, Baltimore, Maryland, this 19th day of Auto canse :lidfigers to ilntersezt at a point gust, 1913. be ond t e u Crum, wien t e tongs are f a opined and to lie on opposite sides of and ROBERF WIESENFLLD' diverge from :1.11 intermediate plane, when In presence of Lwo witnesses: said tongs are fully closed. ISRAEL B. BRODIE,

The foregoing specification signed at JOHN HENRY SKEEN. 

